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33, rue des Bains, P.O. Box 91, 1211 Geneva 8, SwitzerlandTel:
+41(0) 22 979 3800 Fax: +41(0) 22 979 3801 Website:
http://www.icj.org - E-mail: [email protected]
INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTSCommission internationale de
juristes - Comisin Internacional de Juristas
" dedicated since 1952 to the primacy, coherence and
implementation of international law and principles that advance
human rights "
ICJ EMINENT JURISTS PANEL ONTERRORISM, COUNTER-TERRORISM AND
HUMAN RIGHTS
SUB-REGIONAL HEARINGCairo, 4-5 June 2007
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
The Eminent Jurists Panel is an independent panel of eight
international judges, lawyers and legalacademics established by the
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) to conduct a global
inquiryinto terrorism, counter-terrorism and human rights. The
Panel is chaired by Justice ArthurChaskalson, former Chief Justice
of South Africa and the first President of South
AfricasConstitutional Court, and includes Professor Georges
Abi-Saab (Egypt), Professor Robert K.Goldman (United States), Ms.
Hina Jilani (Pakistan), Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn (Thailand),
Ms.Mary Robinson (Ireland), Professor Stefan Trechsel (Switzerland)
and Justice E. Ral Zaffaroni(Argentina).
The mandate of the Panel is:
To examine the compatibility of laws, policies and practices,
which are justified expressly
or implicitly as necessary to counter terrorism, with
international human rights law and,where applicable, with
international humanitarian law.
The Panel process is built on a broad consultation through
national and sub-regional hearings invarious countries around the
world. The Panel has already held hearings in Australia,
Colombia,East Africa (covering Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), the
United Kingdom (in London on currentpolicies and Belfast on lessons
from the past), North Africa (covering Algeria, Morocco
andTunisia), the United States, the Southern Cone (covering
Argentina, Uruguay, Chile, Paraguay andBrazil) and South East Asia
(covering Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines),
theRussian Federation, South Asia and Canada. Other countries or
regions where the Panel will alsohold hearings include Israel, the
Occupied Palestinian Territory and Europe. At the end of the
hearings process, the
The Panel will be visiting Egypt in June 2007 to examine and
assess the impact of counter-terrorism laws and policies on human
rights and the rule of law in Egypt, Jordan, Syria andYemen. On 4-5
June, the Panel will be holding a public hearing in Cairo.
SimultaneousArabic/English interpretation will be available.
In addition to the oral evidence received at the public hearing
in Cairo, the Panel welcomeswritten submissions from any interested
individuals or organisations on the impact of terrorismand
counter-terrorism measures on the rule of law and the protection of
human rights in Egypt,Jordan, Syria and Yemen.
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33, rue des Bains, P.O. Box 91, CH-1211 Geneva 8,
SwitzerlandTel: +41(0) 22 979 3800 Fax: +41(0) 22 979 3801 Website:
http://www.icj.org - E-mail: [email protected]
2
In the framework of its global inquiry, the Panel is seeking to
answer the following questions:
(1) What special laws, policies or practices has the government
adopted, since 2001 orin the past, which it has justified expressly
or implicitly as necessary to counter-terrorism?
(2) Have these counter-terrorism measures had an impact on the
rule of law and on therights guaranteed to all persons by
international human rights or internationalhumanitarian law? If so,
what has been the impact?
(3) How has the government justified such counter-terrorism
measures and do youconsider that past or current terrorist threats
have justified these measures?
(4) What has been the impact of the war on terror in your
country?(5) What lessons should todays policy-makers learn from any
past experience with
terrorism and counter-terrorism in your country?1
In the context of the sub-regional hearing in Cairo, the Panel
is specifically interested insubmissions on the following
topics:
(i) The impact of prolonged states of emergency on the rule of
law and the justification forthese states of emergency in light of
todays security threats;(ii) The definition of terrorism and the
scope of terrorist offences;
(iii) The arrest and detention of terrorist suspects, including
the role of intelligence servicesin those arrests and
detentions;
(iv) Issues related to the right to a fair trial of terrorist
suspects prosecuted before specialcourts, including state security
courts and military tribunals, and the justification forusing those
courts and tribunals;
(v) Alleged extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances
of terrorist suspects;(vi) Alleged torture or ill-treatment of
terrorist suspects;(vii) The effectiveness of diplomatic assurances
and how monitoring mechanisms in relation
to these assurances work in practice;(viii) The impact of
counter-terrorism laws, practices and policies on freedom of
expression,
in particular of the political opposition and the media;(ix) The
impact of counter-terrorism measures on freedom of association and
assembly,including the proscription of organizations for reasons of
national security;
(x) The cooperation with foreign governments in the global war
on terror, in particularthe cooperation with foreign security and
intelligence services in the transfer ofterrorist suspects.
Submissions in English or Arabic should be sent via email to
Amal Abdel Wahab([email protected] ), to Said Benarbia
([email protected]) and Isabelle Heyer ([email protected]).
Further details concerning the Eminent Jurists Panel are
available at http://ejp.icj.org.
1 A more comprehensive list of questions related to the Panels
global inquiry is available
athttp://ejp.icj.org/article.php3?id_article=17 .
